Later this month, I’ll be the guest reader at the NZ Poetry Society in Wellington. It’s upstairs at the Thistle Inn (in Thorndon, opposite Archives NZ; you know, the oldest pub in Wellington where Te Rauparaha was rumoured to paddle his waka up to the front door before the coastline changed forever and where Katherine Mansfield used to hang out; no, not the one up the top of Cuba St, that’s Thistle Hall, this is the Thistle Inn) and there’ll be an open mic to start. Hope to see you there!

NZPS: Poets’ Corner

Monday 17th February, 7.30pmThistle Inn, 3 Mulgrave St, Central Wellington Open mic – all welcome to participate. NZPS welcomes new poets as well as those with more experience. Guest Poet for February: Janis Freegard.

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE FOR WHANGANUI EVENT. THE SARJEANT GALLERY IS CLOSED BECAUSE OF THE EARTHQUAKES SO ELEMENTS CAFE, 26 VICTORIA ST, HAVE KINDLY AGREED TO HOST.

I have a couple of readings coming up that I’m very excited about. The first is at the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui, part of a celebration of Robin Hyde‘s work, in association with National Poetry Day (although it will actually be the day after National Poetry Day).

Sat 17th Aug, 2:30 pm

Sarjeant Gallery Elements Cafe 26 Victoria St, Whanganui

A celebration of the work of Robin Hyde with readings by Glenn Colquhoun, Janis Freegard, Redmer Yska & Dr Mary Paul

The second is in Dunedin, at Circadian Rhythm. It will also feature David Howard and an open mic.

OK, this photo was not taken in Palmerston North; it was taken in Iceland last year, and Palmy last Wednesday was noticeably warmer than Wellington, but this was the photo on the flyers, so I have used it here.

I had a great time at Stand Up Poetry, where I was July’s guest poet. I got there just in time for the 7pm start, having driven up from Wellington after work. Love those rows of lights across the streets at Shannon.

It was my visit to the impressive Palmerston North library (after driving round the Square and failing to find it, I stopped and asked for directions). It’s in a lovely old building with an interior designed by Ian Athfield and it sports some similar features to Wellington’s public library, like the exposed air ducts. There’s a lot of glass, steel and stairways and it feels like a loved and well-used space. After the poetry group, a group of young teenagers settled in for the night, for a school holidays basement lockdown.

Stand Up poetry is a regular monthly event at the library, organised by two great poets: Johanna Aitchison and Helen Lehndorf. There was a small, but dedicated group of poets and poetry-lovers on the night I went, some of whom had driven in from Wanganui and Shannon.

The evening started with an open mic – 10 slots of 5 minutes each. I was very impressed with the readers on the night, with subject matter that ranged from Rarotonga to celibacy, from gnomes to drunkenness. This was followed by a cuppa and a biscuit, then I was on for around half an hour and got to chat to a few folk afterwards.

Big thanks to Helen and Johanna for inviting me, to our lovely librarian hosts, and to everyone who came along to read/listen.

If you’re ever in the vicinity on the first Wednesday of the month, check it out.

Tuesday Poem

I’m the guest editor on the Tuesday Poem blog this week and I’ve chosen a poem by Stephen Crane, which you can read here (after it goes up at 12:01am):

Stand Up Poetry

I will be reading at Palmerston North’s regular poetry event this Wednesday:

Open mic poetry evening with special guest Wellington Poet Janis Freegard. Janis recently won third prize in the Manawatu Festival of New Arts competition. She also writes fiction and won the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award in 2001. Poets bring 5 minutes of your best writing to share. Poetry lovers come and enjoy the words.